I’m just getting my head around expression maps with the help of some of Dorico’s excellent tutorial videos. I am using BBCSO Core and have downloaded the expression maps from Dorico but am having trouble with short notes. I have a section of semi-quavers played pianissimo at 120bpm, but when played back the volume of them is too low to hear. I notice that the BBCSO doesn’t have pianissimo patches so switches to Staccatissimo and it’s almost as if the notes are too short for the sample to play properly.
I’m sure the answer is fairly straight forward - even for a rank beginner to the world of expression maps - but any help would be gratefully received.
Sorry for this might sound rude, but… have you tried NotePerformer?
Ok, that was not the question. I must say I was far from impressed with the result of the BBCSO discover sounds, the strings felt so slow. That might be the problem you’re facing with now.
No, it’s not rude in the slightest. I do have NotePerformer and quite like it. I agree, it’s almost as if the BBCSO sound sample is too slow for staccatissimo, as if the attack of the note is too long.
Dear Peter,
I’ve been tweaking some files with BBCSO strings — I just bought the Pro version and want to really use it. What I discovered is that the normal patch for the strings is responding to velocity, in a way I have not found any information (in the user guide). If you play a long note with a high velocity, the attack is fast. If the velocity is low, the attack is… soft and long. Unusable with Dorico (except for soft harmonies, very long notes… for me, almost useless). So I decided to try and max all velocities for my string quintet and work on the CC1 and CC11 to adjust dynamics and expression. And the result is much much better. Has anyone else worked on this ?
I’ve also tweaked the expression map, with different minimums for CC1 and 11, and it also works. I thought I could share this with you — I read someone had changed the short notes with staccato, tried his expression map and… I think it’s a terrible idea, the result is not musical. Tweaking the velocities is much more natural.
Hope it helps. Let me know if you have other (or better) ideas!
PS: I would love an easy way to force all notes’ velocities values. Using the pen does work but hey, maybe something could be set inside the expression map?
Hello @Peter_Hawkey and @MarcLarcher ,
I would like to present two audio examples I made with BBC SO Pro for you. I don’t find those semi-quavers that slow, actually. The tempo is 120bpm
Example 1. Violins I & II in thirds:
Example 2. Violas & Cellos in thirds (Low register):
Most probably the feeling that they sound slow comes from the microphones. By default Spitfire Player for BBCSO uses only Mixed mic positions, but if you would like to hear the staccato more faster you should activate the CLOSE position.
Unfortunately those mic settings most probably aren’t available for BBCSO Core.
Hi! Thanks for these examples. I never had a problem with the speed of action of the staccato articulation. The problem is in the long articulation — which is the normal articulation in John’s expression map. My contribution here is to say we can use it, even for fast notes as long as the velocity of these notes is very high.
the lack of proper documentation for the BBC libraries is unhelpful as it’s almost entirely focussed on live playing-- for instance the manual doesn’t even mention that you need to use a velocity of 19 or less to trigger a portamento using legato. With Dorico, the long patch is set to use primary CC1 and secondary CC11 and velocity will automatically default to 100. I haven’t found with that patch any effect at all of altering velocity – it’s possible you have set the controllers up differently.
As general advice, I can only repeat that for the twin reasons of a) having fast notes built in to the articulation and b) having actual programmed note transitions, the “legato” patch should for most people be preferred to “long” as the default in the EM. Only for works dominated by slow-moving chordal passages would I stick to John’s setting of “long” as normal. For general purpose, “long” is simply too inflexible. Remember that when using “legato” as default, you still have two variants, the legato with a slur and the legato without one. The difference is clear as the note length in Playback Options will be different.
